Liberals Hate Trump’s Wall More Than They Love ‘Dreamers’

Democrats and liberals hate the idea of a border wall so much that they would abandon the so-called “dreamers” if it were part of an amnesty compromise, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey not surprisingly found widespread support for granting legal status to illegal immigrants whose parents brought them as children to the United States. The survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent, shows that 73 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of liberals want the so-called “dreamers” to be able to get U.S. citizenship if they meet certain requirements.

Another 14 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of liberals support legal status but not citizenship for dreamers, who get their name from the proposed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

But a majority of liberals and Democrats would oppose letting the dreamers stay if Congress funded construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the deal.

Chris Chmielenski, director of content and activism at NumbersUSA, said the survey results are an indication of just how much of a lightning rod the wall has become since President Donald Trump made it the centerpiece of his campaign.

"They've linked the wall to him to such a degree that I think they can't picture themselves giving him anything, even if it means not protecting the dreamers," he said. "It's interesting but not all that surprising."

Republicans overwhelmingly favor building the wall, with 73 percent registering their support. But tying it to the DREAM Act does not affect their views on amnesty much. Asked about citizenship for dreamers, 51 percent of Republicans said "yes." That number rose to 55 percent if it included wall funding.

The question is not academic. After Trump announced he was phasing out the executive quasi-amnesty program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), he signaled a willingness to sign a version of the DREAM Act. He has waffled on whether that must include border-wall funding.

Dave Ray, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told LifeZette in an email that the poll results should surprise no one. He said billionaire progressive activist George Soros and other immigration extremists care about dreamers only as a vehicle toward broader amnesty.

"The Soros-funded open borders lobby is not really interested in amnesty for people who came here as kids. They're only using this subset as a rhetorical device to pry the door open for an amnesty for all 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the U.S., without any enforcement mechanism behind it," Ray wrote. "That fact was made crystal clear recently to [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi, who was shouted down by a raucous, hostile crowd at her own press conference, who demonized her for supporting the DREAM Act while demanding amnesty for 'all of us or none of us.'"

Chmielenski agreed. "There was a little bit of truth in that protest of Pelosi," he said.

Interestingly, the Morning Consult poll found that Democrats and liberals are far more willing to accept increased funding for unspecified "enhanced security" along the border as part of a deal to let the dreamers stay legally. Among Democrats, 75 percent would "strongly" or "somewhat" support such a deal. Support was even higher, 78 percent, among self-identified liberals.

The intense opposition to a wall among the rank and file mirrors the views of Democratic leaders, who have indicated that it would be a "poison pill" for the DREAM Act. It is somewhat perplexing, given that a majority of Senate Democrats voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the border.

"Those who believe in immigration enforcement and national sovereignty should take notice and fully understand the thinking and real motivation that drives the open borders lobby," Ray wrote in the email to LifeZette, "wide open borders and the death of American sovereignty."